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Kimi Antonelli admitted he feels “a bit empty” after a late mechanical issue forced the Mercedes driver to retire from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix when he was on course to finish second. Antonelli said: "I feel a bit empty to be fair right now, but it is what it is. Races are like this and it comes and goes. For sure the pace was good today. I struggled a little bit in stint one but stint two and three, I felt like I had quite a lot of pace and of course it's a shame because it was like three laps from the end, almost there. But as I said, races are like this, it's no one's fault and now we look forward to the next one."
Lewis Hamilton says his maiden Ferrari win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was “something else” compared with his other victories, after beating Mercedes’ George Russell. Hamilton said: "They're all special in their own way but this one's something else. I watched Ferrari have all that success when I was younger, watching it on TV, and as I've been racing here I'd always watch the screens and wonder what it would be like to win in that car, and it's come. Everyone worked so hard for it, everyone truly deserves it, so I am forever grateful to them."
George Russell said he was confused by Mercedes’ strategy calls during the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, believing at one point the team had moved him on to a three-stop plan while telling him he was staying on a two-stop. Russell said: "In the first stint I felt very comfortable on the medium tyre. I felt we pitted really early. Lewis committed to a three-stop, I think we should have committed to our own strategy. It's something I want to pick up with the team because I was managing quite a lot at the start and still ekeing that gap out to Lewis. Then I thought we actually went and converted to a three [stop strategy] when they told me we were staying on the two. That was a challenge."
Max Verstappen says Red Bull are still fourth fastest in Formula 1 and need to bring performance to the car to close the gap to Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren. Verstappen said: "In general, we're still the fourth fastest team, that's not really going to change on any of the upcoming tracks, unless you bring performance. We're not going to solve it by just changing the setup, so that's what we'll look at."
Charles Leclerc said a suspected hydraulic problem left him without brakes, power steering or gear shifts before he retired from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Leclerc said: "It's not only power steering, in general I had no brakes, no power steering, no shifts, so I guess it's something with the hydraulic there. I don't know yet exactly what happened."
Fernando Alonso says the support from fans was the best part of what he said could be his last Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend, after he retired with a sudden battery failure. Alonso said: "It was the best part of the weekend. The fans were incredible the whole weekend. That was a very, very nice feeling. Very emotional weekend for me, maybe the last in Barcelona. So, yeah, out the car, I enjoy it every minute, but unfortunately we didn't give to them what they deserve in terms of results."
Nico Hulkenberg said Liam Lawson inadvertently caused his Audi to retire from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after a stone flicked up by Lawson triggered the car’s emergency shut-off, despite no contact between them. Hulkenberg’s R26 stopped after 29 laps, with the Audi driver explaining: “Somehow, one stone pulled the emergency trigger on the left of the roll hoop. And it just killed the car.” Told what happened, Lawson reacted: “Are you serious?! No way,” before adding: “Oh, that’s so unfortunate.”
Lewis Hamilton says his dream of winning a grand prix for Ferrari had “seemed almost impossible” during his first year with the team, after taking his maiden victory for them at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Hamilton said: "I started out a dream which seemed almost impossible during last year. We never gave up hope and the team just continued to lift me up. We made so many changes and improvements."
Mercedes says Kimi Antonelli’s retirement from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was caused by an “electrical shutdown”. Antonelli stopped on the run out of Turn 6 shortly after passing team-mate George Russell for second on the road, marking his first retirement of the season. It is Mercedes’ second DNF of the year, following Russell’s retirement in Canada.
Lewis Hamilton said his first grand prix win for Ferrari was “something else” after he took victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Hamilton said: "They are all special in their own way, but this one is something else. I watched Ferrari have all that success when I was younger, watching on TV, and since I've been racing here, I'd watch the screens and wonder what it would be like to win in that car, and it has come. Everyone has worked so hard for it, and everyone truly deserves it, so I am forever grateful, and this is just the first of many I hope."
Lewis Hamilton took his first grand prix win for Ferrari at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix and used the cooldown lap to thank the team for helping him “achieve this dream” of winning in red. Hamilton ran a contrasting strategy to most frontrunners by starting on softs, committing to a three-stop race in heavy tyre degradation, with his final stop helped by a virtual safety car after Fernando Alonso stopped on track. Hamilton said: “Grazie a tutti Maranello… You helped me achieve this dream and I can't thank you enough.”
George Russell says Ferrari will continue to push Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix following what Russell called a “surprise” level of pace. Russell said: "Yesterday was a real surprise for us in the team, and then the pace today was insane from Lewis. So, yeah, they're coming."
⚪️ George Russell: "Huge congrats to Lewis. I know how hard he works. We spent a lot of years together at Mercedes so I'm really pleased to see him back to the Lewis I remember when I was growing up. A tough day. It's good to be back on the podium and have a bit of a clean race from my side "Ferrari were mighty impressive today and we need to keep on pushing. Friday and Saturday were strong and solid. Today was a bit more challenging. Everything started well and I felt good in the first stint. The last two stints were more difficult. As I said, it's good to be back here." 🟠 Lando Norris: "First of all, I want to congratulate Lewis. Nice to see him back on top, so very happy for you, mate. It was a tough race. I did my best to keep up with these guys, but too quick, so we stayed there. We gave ourselves a chance if anything happened and we obviously got a bit lucky with Antonelli going out, but otherwise very happy for the team and very happy to be back on the podium. A good day for us. "We're doing a good job as a team. I think we're making good progress, but these guys are just doing a better job. So we have to give credit to them and admit that to ourselves, that we've got to keep working hard, got to keep putting in the effort. The whole team are doing it, so I'm, I'm very happy with them. We've just got to keep eyes down and keep working and we'll be there soon."
"First I have to start and say a huge grazie to everyone here. My team here at Ferrari, everyone back at the factory. Fred for believing in me and bringing me to this team. I started out a dream which seemed almost impossible during my time last year but we never gave up hope and the team continued to lift me up. We made so many changes and we made so many improvements. On top of that, I have got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for and so thank you to everybody. "I watched Ferrari have all that success when I was younger, watching it on TV. As I've been racing here, I'd always watched the screens and wondered what it would be like to win in that car - and it's come. "The team are giving me that confidence with the changes that we've made, believing and trusting in the decisions and the things that I've asked for. And we're slowly starting to see this all come together. "And I guess I'm just happy in my life, you know? So I'm in a good place. I love doing what I do. There's no greater feeling than racing a Formula 1 car."
Lewis Hamilton takes his first victory for Ferrari in a compelling Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix as championship leader Kimi Antonelli retires.
Drivers' Standings 1) Kimi Antonelli - 156 2) Lewis Hamilton - 115 3) George Russell - 106 4) Charles Leclerc - 75 5) Lando Norris - 73 6) Oscar Piastri - 68 7) Max Verstappen - 55 8) Pierre Gasly - 41 9) Isack Hadjar - 34 10) Liam Lawson - 26 11) Franco Colapinto - 19 12) Oliver Bearman - 18 13) Arvid Lindblad - 12 14) Carlos Sainz Jnr - 6 15) Alexander Albon - 5 16) Esteban Ocon - 3 17) Gabriel Bortoleto - 2 18) Fernando Alonso - 1 19) Nico Hulkenberg - 0 20) Valtteri Bottas - 0 21) Sergio Perez - 0 22) Lance Stroll - 0 Constructors' Standings 1) Mercedes - 262 2) Ferrari - 190 3) McLaren - 141 4) Red Bull - 89 5) Alpine - 60 6) Racing Bulls - 38 7) Haas - 21 8) Williams - 11 9) Audi - 2 10) Aston Martin - 1 11) Cadillac - 0
Kimi Antonelli’s title bid took a hit after a late Mercedes failure in Barcelona-Catalunya moments after he passed George Russell while fighting for second. Antonelli slowed exiting Turn 6 and pulled over, losing what would have been 18 points for second place. Lando Norris inherited third for McLaren, while Charles Leclerc also retired late on with a power steering failure.
P1) Lewis Hamilton P2) George Russell: +19.561 P3) Lando Norris: +23.719 P4) Max Verstappen: +40.497 P5) Oscar Piastri: +58.661 P6) Isack Hadjar: +1 lap P7) Pierre Gasly: +1 lap P8) Franco Colapinto: +1 lap P9) Liam Lawson: +1 lap P10) Arvid Lindblad: +1 lap P11) Gabriel Bortoleto: +2 laps P12) Carlos Sainz Jnr: +2 laps P13) Esteban Ocon: +2 laps P14) Sergio Perez: +3 laps DNF) Kimi Antonelli Nico Hulkenberg Charles Leclerc Oliver Bearman Alexander Albon Valtteri Bottas Lance Stroll Fernando Alonso
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